Why Koenigsegg has never gone racing

[enzoalec92]

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It's interesting to ponder how the course of endurance — and GT — racing in general would've turned out differently had the CCGT ever been able to compete. I think we'd see cars integrating even more innovative ideas by now, since Koenigsegg has always been known for pushing the extreme boundaries of what technology is capable of.

I also agree with the sentiment that the current LMH and LMDh categories in the WEC and IMSA are completely bull💩 since they don't utilise any road-going supercar chassis in existence. If anything, they're just exercises in marketing meant to conjure up nostalgic imagery of the '90s GT1 heydays, but conforming only to the letter of the regulations instead of their spirit.

As of now, only SCG has been doing good on their word to produce road-legal versions of their prototype race cars, and they're only a low-volume manufacturer unlike the multinational corporations like Audi, Peugeot, Porsche or Toyota! Yet, the FIA and ACO still wonders why there's been waning interest in the series over the last few years because of unfeasible costs... 🤦‍♂️😡

<Why Koenigsegg Never Went Racing, And Why It Doesn't Plan to Start
Christian von Koenigsegg explains why his cars have never competed at Le Mans, and why he doesn't intend to participate in the new Hypercar class.

KOENIGSEGG

Despite building some of the most innovative supercars on earth, Koenigsegg does not currently have a racing team. That's not for lack of trying: Founder Christian von Koenigsegg actually built a viable race car with intent to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans when his company was in its infancy. But it never happened, and during a lengthy conversation with the man behind the Swedish performance car company, we learned more about why his Le Mans ambitions fell apart—and whether he hopes to try again.

In 2007, Koenigsegg built a fully-functional race car that exactly followed the FIA's Group GT1 rules. The race car, called CCGT, bore a strong resemblance to Koenigsegg's second production model, the CCR. But its roots went back even further, to the very first prototype Koenigsegg built, called CC. As explained on a Koenigsegg company blog post, the original CC, and the race car it spawned, was designed to fit exactly into GT1's dimension requirements: The car could be two meters wide at the maximum, and the cockpit had to span 70 percent of the vehicle's overall width. It had a dry weight of 2200 pounds (significantly below the minimum weight for GT1, which would mean adding ballast to reach the required weight) and was powered by a naturally aspirated V-8 making well over 600 horsepower.

But two months after the CCGT's first shakedown runs, the ACO and FIA had a change of heart. The governing bodies banned carbon-fiber monocoque construction, which was used in every Koenigsegg road car and thus formed the basis of the CCGT. The regulators also raised the minimum production requirement dramatically. Previously, an automaker was required to construct 20 street-legal examples of a model, in total, to be eligible to race. After the 2007 change, that number rose to 350 cars per year, impossible for a tiny automaker like Koenigsegg to achieve. The CCGT was ruled out of the class before it ever competed in a single race.

The only Koenigsegg CCGT ever built. | KOENIGSEGG

"We were aiming to go racing in the GT1 series, which was perfect for our type of cars—road-going hypercars turned race cars" von Koenigsegg told Road & Track during a recent, lengthy conversation. "Then they shut it down right when we were about to go racing, which was very annoying. Since then, there hasn't been any series for these types of cars."

The rule change left von Koenigsegg without a place to take his supercars racing. "Even if we would be allowed to go to the highest level of GT racing, we would be competing against Porsche 911s and Ferrari 488s"—sports cars built to vastly different performance goals than Koenigsegg's cars, which commanded well over half a million dollars each.

Even if von Koenigsegg had wanted to compete in such a class, he worried that his cars would be "completely downgraded through Balance of Performance via restrictors, because we are not supposed to be any faster. And then it would be just a super-expensive racing car, which would cost more to repair than a 911, and we might even get beaten by a 911 because of BoP, while in reality, they are completely different vehicles. That doesn't make any sense."

So Koenigsegg's racing dreams died in 2007, before they could ever become real. But what about today? The WEC's new Hypercar class debuted this year, and it was seemingly built for exactly the kind of extreme vehicles that Koenigsegg builds. But the man behind the Swedish supercar company is unconvinced. "Of course, they started this Hypercar series at Le Mans, but in the end it turned out to be some kind of LMP car again, so it's just a new name for the same kind of thing, more or less."

Does von Koenigsegg see a racing future for his cars? Not under the current rules. "The alternative, I guess, is to build some kind of a Le Mans Prototype, which has no relation to our road cars, which I don't find too appealing. I would like to go back to the GT1 type of class, where we [could] see Bugattis, Paganis, Koenigseggs—modified road cars featuring completely different technologies. Not this silhouette racing where you have the same chassis under different bodies. Granted, it would be a very expensive series, given the price of these cars, but then we could build up on what we have. Everyone could showcase something you could actually buy, if you're extremely wealthy. That's what we would like, but I'm not sure if it could ever happen.">

[kobayashiGT]

Is a story. to sell to the rich mah.

Woah. this car is a mystery leh. 😂

[Watwheels]

I can see where they are coming from. Motor sports has a lot of technical rules to follow. And each type of motor sports race has their unique set of rules. If one competition requires all the teams to use the same platform but other parts they can be the team's own design, it is a problem for Koenigsegg. They have to re-design and rebuild parts to fit that platform. Obviously it will cost them money and time to do it. Although the idea of having the same platform is to reduce cost for smaller teams and level the playing field but Koenigsegg dont prefer it.

They have a good car build so they would want to join a competition that doesnt make too much changes to their existing car. There was one but it got shut down and they were disappointed. It is not they dont want to race.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Watwheels

[D3badge]

2 hours ago, Watwheels said:

I can see where they are coming from. Motor sports has a lot of technical rules to follow. And each type of motor sports race has their unique set of rules. If one competition requires all the teams to use the same platform but other parts they can be the team's own design, it is a problem for Koenigsegg. They have to re-design and rebuild parts to fit that platform. Obviously it will cost them money and time to do it. Although the idea of having the same platform is to reduce cost for smaller teams and level the playing field but Koenigsegg dont prefer it.

They have a good car build so they would want to join a competition that doesnt make too much changes to their existing car. There was one but it got shut down and they were disappointed. It is not they dont want to race.

Agree just look at manufacturers giant Toyota

On paper, Toyota F1 was an operation that had it all had it all – a huge budget, accomplished personnel and superb facilities. But while there were three pole positions and 13 podium finishes, not once in 139 grands prix did Toyota win a race from 2002-2009, let alone challenge for a championship.

Despite many changes in personnel, drivers and regulations during its time in F1, Toyota was a consistent underachiever and they never finished higher than fourth in the standings; a feat they managed just once over eight years. The only positive was the livery.

Toyota's F1 project was one of the biggest failures in the history in Grand Prix racing, and there are a plethora of reasons why.

There's no doubt that Toyota underestimated F1, and this for any start-up team is a crucial error. That's why nowadays we have huge entry fees, so only those who are serious about entering the pinnacle of motorsport can join. It keeps out the likes of Andrea Moda, Lola, Footwork, Spyker and... Toyota.

Toyota enjoyed success in the WRC during the 1990s and produced the GT-One sportscar that almost managed Le Mans glory, it being unquestionably both quick and iconic. So it was therefore natural Toyota would turn its attention to F1. But this was at a time when F1 teams were rapidly expanding in size and technical know-how, and by coming in as a full works team - producing both car and engine - immediately Toyota faced a double challenge.

As any new team will tell you, it's a great deal easier simply buying an already-established engine than pouring the time and energy into making, developing and testing a whole new one.

Perhaps it was bullishness from their newfound motorsport success, or maybe inexperience, but either way Toyota ignored this and pursued this dead-end.

Their problems were made worse when the FIA made the switch from V12 to V10 engines; Toyota had already invested a gigantic £11M into a V12 iteration - and back in those days £11M was a good sum to start up a whole team.

This was the 'official' reason they moved back their entry into F1 from 2001 and 2002, but realistically they were never going to make the cut by then given their underestimation of the sport.

Instead they spent 2001 rigorously testing, with a new HQ in the Paul Ricard circuit (yes, the one with the stupid lines) with the TF101 - a car down on both power and downforce after three whole years of development. 20,000KM of mileage wasn't enough.

The stories continue and we all know what happen to Toyota F1 team.........